The group was created in March 2017 as "New Urbanist Shitposting", and was intended as a spin-off to another Facebook group, dedicated to maps and cartographic jokes. Reception of New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens is generally positive, with mentions that the group has inspired its members to take urban planning courses and apply for internships and jobs. The group's members have created about 20 to 50 spin-off groups related to the original.

Forum administrators and moderators include co-founders Orenstein, Marty, and Eldred.[1][2][3]Chicago magazine noted that the group has a strong left-wing political orientation, "imploring for public funds dedicated to transit, at a high cost to the rich."[2][3]

As of 5 July 2018[update], Eldred estimates there are 300 posts per day.[1] Orenstein notes 40% of the membership is 18–25 years-old, while 25% work in transit-related fields.[2][3][13]The Guardian stated it was "predominantly millennials."[1] Since the CityLab coverage, Orenstein reported there was an "uptick in 'market urbanist types'."[1] As of March 2018, its cover photo is a member-designed satirical map wherein each station is labelled with a reference to the group's myriad in-jokes.[2][3]

Reception for the group has been generally positive. Angles from the CPJ described New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens as "a Facebook group to provide for the dearth of urbanist memes of the internet."[14]Chicago said its "most hilarious moments happen when these streams converge, applying elbow-patched academic remove to nonexistent objects of pop-culture speculation."[2][3]CityLab called the group "a place to get engaged with matters of profound importance to local communities."[4][1]

In Autumn 2017, Eldred requested group members to compensate the moderation for emotional labor via Venmo which was met with a critical reception. Eldred said "There have been times where it's like we're being asked to moderate the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in a group about, you know, trains."[4]

There has also been criticism about political orientation of the group. Eldred said "the communists complain that the group is too neoliberal, and the market urbanists complain that the group is too communist. A lot of people will rag on the mods for being centrists. And most of us are socialists."[19]

There has also been criticism about the group's perceived European-centric bias. One meme, shared by Tyler Walter, who moderates "Amchad Memes for American Rail Apologist Teens" said his first meme shared in the group that mocked Europeans "pissed so many people off. It pissed off Europeans."[19]

On January 15, 2020, NUMTOT administrators decided to endorse Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries, praising his “message of peace, equity, and justice.” The reasons cited include Sanders’ support for building 10 million affordable housing units, making Section 8 housing assistance for low-income families an entitlement, national rent control, creating a National Housing Agency to combat housing discrimination, the Green New Deal, and investing $300 billion in public transport. In response, Sanders himself joined the group and thanked the group in a post, saying, “thank you NUMTOT for your support of our campaign, and for all you are doing to create the lasting and fundamental change our country needs”.[20][21]

A subreddit on Reddit where the participants create rapid transit systems based on the location of Subway restaurant franchises, called "subwaysubway", was inspired by a NUMTOT group discussion.[5][22]

An Instagram account using the NUMTOTs handle was created to share popular memes in the group on the platform. The group is unaffiliated with the original NUMTOTs group.[23]